Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 66.39
Liaison Phil Valko
Submission Date March 4, 2022

STARS v2.2

Washington University in St. Louis
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.56 / 6.00 Aamna Anwer
Sustainability Coordinator
Office of Sustainabilty
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Percentage of total annual food and beverage expenditures on products that are sustainably or ethically produced:
17.99

Percentage of total annual food and beverage expenditures on plant-based foods:
15.96

An inventory of food and beverage purchases that qualify as sustainably/ethically produced:
A brief description of the methodology used to conduct the inventory, including the timeframe and how representative samples accounted for seasonal variation (if applicable):

The data compiled in the STARS Food and Beverage Purchasing Inventory includes all purchases conducted by the Danforth Bon Appetit account for Fiscal Year '21. We have previously reported the School of Medicine account, but due to highly unusual operations, were unable to acquire accurate data from that account.

A full inventory of purchases during the fiscal year was shared, including the Sysco Sales Tracker and purchases made from procurement cards. The executive chef highlighted which purchases were from local, small enterprises.


Website URL where the institution’s validated Real/Good Food Calculator results are publicly posted:
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Which of the following food service providers are present on campus and included in the inventory/assessment?:
Present? Included?
Dining operations and catering services operated by the institution No No
Dining operations and catering services operated by a contractor Yes Yes
Student-run food/catering services No No
Franchises (e.g., regional or global brands) Yes No
Convenience stores Yes Yes
Vending services Yes No
Concessions No No

Total annual dining services budget for food and beverage products:
$5 million - $9.9 million

A brief description of the institution’s sustainable food and beverage purchasing program:

Washington University's Strategic Plan for Sustainable Operations set a series of goals for 8 key areas including food. For food, the goals include sourcing at least 22% local food by 2020 (by dollar spent) and 25% environmentally preferable, humane and fair food by 2020 (by dollar spent). Pandemic operations have moderately affected some of the gains in these areas.

Bon Appetit, which represents nearly 90% of our dining providers across campuses, has committed to a number of sustainable sourcing practices including:

>> Local Sourcing: Farm to Fork is a companywide initiative requiring chefs to buy at least 20% of their ingredients from small farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and food producers within 150 miles of their kitchens. To become part of the Farm to Fork program, vendors must meet a number of requirements regarding their size (small), their type of ownership (owner-operated), distance to the kicthen (within 150 miles), and annual sales volume ($5 million or less).

>> Seafood: Bon Appetit follows the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch and only chooses species classified "Best Choices" (green) or "Good Alternatives" (yellow).

>> Animal products: Bon Appetit is also committed to buying only rBGH-free milk and yogurt; chicken, turkey, and hamburger from animals raised without the routine use of antibiotics; and cage-free eggs.
> Dairy: hormone free (rBGH or rBST).
> Poultry: chicken and turkey come from animals not given routine, nontherapeutic antibiotics.
> Eggs: Only Certified Humane cage-free shell eggs.
> Ground beef: only from cows raised without antibiotics ever, added growth hormones, or animal byproducts in their feed. Ground beef must be certified from Humane Farm Animal Care.
> Pork: comes from animals never given antibiotics or ractopamine. Also gestation-crate free.

>> Coffee: Most of the University's dining providers are sourcing the large majority of their coffees from Kaldi's coffee. The local roaster runs several sustainability-related programs, including the "Relationship Coffees" that ensures that the coffee production exceeds fair trade practices (https://kaldiscoffee.com/pages/kaldis-relationship-coffee).


Website URL where information about the food and beverage purchasing program is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.